Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1887-03-18


advance Or at any time within the car
rent gear; If not paid avithin the yea
S1.5O wiN be invariably charged, e
slacays heretofore, and from this rul
no exception acW be made.
TO ADVERTISERS.-THE TINES having
je1ger circulation UG,, any other paper among h
intelligent farmers and business Of Chart
County, offers superior inducements to a5r'rtissr
t. insert their announcements IL, is colsias. Sen
for card rates, Dhich are iop any other pdpe
in Southern Maryland to say nothing about ci'culo
tten.
Decisions Rendered.
The Court OF Appe,ls on Tuesday rendered
decisions in the Cases of State VS. John Benz 4
min Biscoe and State vs.. Thomas F. Nicholson
being appeals from the Circuit Court of thi
county at the last November term. The point:
involved in the appeals in both cases have beer
heretofore fully explained in these columns 5
The judgment of this Court is rever sed in both
eases and tie cases re handed for new trial.
la the case of Bscee the Court of Appeals
through Judge R R)binson, reverses the lower
courts decision and awards new trial. Judge:
Miller, Bryan and Irving concur with JIdse
Robinson and Chief Judge Alvey dissents from
the majority ruling. The Court says:
The confession made by the prisoner to
Morgan, the committing magistrate, was not a
free and voluntary confession, ,aad it ought not,
therefore, to have been permitted to go TO ths
ho ennF. ia md n
lowing circumstances The prisoner was CON-
mitted to j,ii for the murder Of Capt. Dixon,
an0 the MAJ istrate seemed to think it his
duty to get from the prisoner an adams ion or
confession of some kind as to his guilt. For
this purpose he went 10 see the prisoner no less
than FIVE times, and at each of these Interview
the prisoner denied be had snyrhIng TO do with
the killing of the deceased. Finally, at the
fifth interview, Morgan said be had re'd a
statement In newspaper that Il Capt. Evans
had seen the deceased on his vessel on the trip
on which he was killed, and that there was on.
ly one other man on board Upon his maxim 9
this statement the prisoner seemed 10 hesitate,
and Morgaa then said to him that it would be
bitter for hitB to tell the truth and have no mo-
trouble about it, and therefore the prisoner
made the confessioa " bich was offered in evil
dence. Morgan further says that 10 all these
interviews he told the prisoner he could make
him no promises.
Now all agree that confession is not ad
misshle in ev;deace against the prisoner unless
il was freely and voluntarily made. There is
no difficulty IN regard to the rule itself; the
trouble is in the application of the rule to the
facts Of each particular Case that is whether il
was free and voluntary coR iesSion, or " be her
it was produced ny tie influence of another
under hope of favor or advantage if made, or
fear of harm or di.advantage of some kind if
withheld. 1t is not an easy matter in all cas-s
TO measure the force of the influence used, and
courts leaning to The side Of mercy may have
in some cases excluded confessions were it is
difficult TO see how the alleged inducement had
any influence on he mind of the prisoner. We
have no disposition TO extend the rule hey ond
SQUAD and welestabished principles. Tested
by these prIncip es the confession In this case
is, We think, clearly inadmissib!e. The pri-
soner was in the custody Of the lsw and al
though ,ressed time and again to make con-
fession, and pressed, too, by one in authority,
he persisted in denying his guilt, ami it was not
until he was told that it would be better for
him 10 tell the truth and have no more trouble
about ii that the confession was IN ,de. Here
there vas an inducenent, and one, too, of the
strongest kind, held out to him. The witness,
it is true, says he told the prisoner be could
make no promises, but v hat does that amount
to v ben, in the xt breath, We had him say
ing TO the prisoner that it would be better for
him to tell the ruth and thereby have more
trouble about the matter? 1t vas, in facts
ing to the prisoner, if you will tell me the truth
ii will not only be the better for you, but you
shall nave no more trouble about the matter.
In G ,ines's case, 2 Carr, and X. e20, the wit
ness told the prisoner that it would be better
for him to tell the trsth' After argument be-
fore full bench, Pollock. C. B says When
a person has been tel& that he had better tell
the truth, AMI these expressions are used by or
in the presence OF person in authority, | al
ways r. jet the evidence Ju ige Marble said
that haa been decided IN more tn IN a hundred
inslan es." The Court Of Arpe as quotes from
numerous decisions TO sustain ITS opinion and
says The confession CT Biscoe was according
TO all the dec>i ms inad tn ssrIe and the court
ought TO have excluded it from the jlry The
court below also erred in declining to let tie
pri-onrr prove before the confession IN de, |
at previous interviews, that Morgan held out
inducements for him to confess The court, /
before admitting the confession, ought TO have
first seen whether any inducements had been
held out tC the prisoner. The judge could
rule confession out after it wA> in, if satisfied
by subss qrient evidence tn II it not free
and voluntary cone:-ion; but once in ii Aiy
hasean influence more or less pre- judicial 10 the
prisoner. The preliminary question therefore,
all Cases, to be decided by the court before ii
is permitted to go to the jury"
n the case Of Nicholson, the Court overrules
the point raised by tn. d>fence aud decides
that the Imprisonment ofa defau.tns collector
is not Unconstitutional SIS being an mprison-
ment for debt, Jldge Robinson again deliver
ing the opinion # the Court. Nicholson, a
Ill IF I'D f,r rIa
county, was indicted un Ter tha act of 1872,
e,al ter 329. The acl provides that il any
collector shall willfully detaia in his posses
sion taxes collected by him, and neglect to pay
the same into the treasury of the State for
more than 90 days after the d ~ upon which il
is made his duty to pay the same, or, if no par
tcular day be appointed. shall neglect to pay
the same for the space OF six months, he shall
be deemed to be defanlter and upon convic-
ton shall be imprisoned in the penil,ntiirv,
ter lie sooner paid On demurrer The point
was raised that the fact was in conflict with
the constitution, which ,boiishes impr son nent
for debt. There is Il bro ID distincti pn''
says the court, ,,"betw Imprisonment 70
debt within the me ning of the con Institution
and imprisonm mt for breach OF dIiy the
part of pubic off :er, although such breach
of duy may be the neglect or refus ii on bis
part to pay money received by him for the use
Of the State" The court decided that the pro
forma Judgment against the State will be re-
vsrse ed an the cause remande1.
The Weather far March.
On of the many wetther prophets gives
tn. following forecast for March: "Equinoc
tial March promises to De an unusually turbu
lent month this yesr, an there will be los. of
life and prop'rty, especially along th- sea coast
The first niger period wi he from the ffth to
the twelfth, durin tn. 'ater portion of which